The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

A time travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power and the potential for love to change it Welcome to The Ministry of Time , the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.
 

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.
 

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machine,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But he adjusts quickly; he is, after all, an explorer by trade. Soon, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a seriously uncomfortable housemate dynamic, evolves into something much more. Over the course of an unprecedented year, Gore and the bridge fall haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences they never could have imagined.
 

Supported by a chaotic and charming cast of characters—including a 17th-century cinephile who can’t get enough of Tinder, a painfully shy World War I captain, and a former spy with an ever-changing series of cosmetic surgery alterations and a belligerent attitude to HR—the bridge will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future.
 

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks the universal What happens if you put a disaffected millennial and a Victorian polar explorer in a house together?
 

The Ministry of Time is an ambitious, creative, and wonderful blend of different genres that could’ve easily ended up as a convoluted misfire if not for Kaliane Bradley’s thoughtful and carefully executed prowess with the various elements involved. Despite the obvious science fiction time-traveling elements, when you strip the story of its otherworldly themes, The Ministry of Time feels like a straight contemporary fiction drama novel that heavily explores the immigrant experience and assimilating into the Western English lifestyle. The five individuals pulled into the 21st century across time is a clear metaphor for the immigrant experience. TLDR, you do not have to be a fan of science fiction to enjoy this book. On a more basic level, The Ministry of Time was a homerun for me with a tone and sophistication I’ve been severely missing in most recent trending booktok novels (not that I would consider this one booktok’s norm).

Right from its synopsis, the summary highlights its genre-bending elements well. The Ministry of Time is 100% part historical Fiction due to Commander Graham Gore being a real-life figure who was deemed lost as part of John Franklin’s Lost and tragic 1845 expedition to the arctic. Familiarity with the material is helpful (as is with following British pop culture references), but not required to enjoy the story. Between every chapter in the 21st century, a short chapter told from Graham Gore’s perspective is included which highlights the quiet dread and mortality of the expedition as they slowly realize there is no help coming to free their trapped ships in ice. The novel has clear science fiction and time-traveling themes (particularly in the back-half of the novel) with clearly established lore and temporal rules in place (though this shouldn’t be the sole factor if you’re considering reading this as its more a fictional drama vs scifi epic). I’m not sure if it’s a term commonly used in the literature field, but this is 100% a reverse-isekai story chock full of the fish out of water trope executed brilliantly in the first half of the novel. Yes, the story has romance (albeit a light romance) touched on in the 2nd half of the book, though it is decidedly not a traditional “romance” genre novel.

All these elements sound like they shouldn’t work together, and yet they do. Bradley seamlessly weaves slice of life moments living with Graham and their buddy banter with government-related research, spying, and a potential conspiracy theory looming just below the surface. The story just works so well and I have to purposely try and pull it apart to try and summarize its different elements. The banter and interactions between Graham and the FMC feel natural and grow as the novel progresses, inevitably also sparking some romantic interest along the way. The novel then abruptly pivots harder into the science fiction spy thriller section 3/4 through to address the book’s base premise. If I had to fault the novel anywhere, it would be the abrupt shift in tone and pacing at this section. Without giving away any spoilers, the time-travel concept is solid but feels a bit rushed with a bit of info dumping from the future. This section felt like it easily could have been double the length or its own sequel novel, though I appreciated the quiet and thoughtful epilogue chapter that follows it. That chapter even pokes fun at popular tropes of the genre, stating there’s no happily ever after or grand cinematic conclusion; life just goes on and you’re left to figure out what to do and fill your time with after a huge part of your life is taken away from you. I was impressed by Bradley’s choice to end the story on this reflective and quiet note rather than a contrived happy ending. Despite not having a happily every after ending, the novel’s underlying tone is still quite hopeful. Certain characters and historic elements are grounded despite being portrayed through a slightly romanticized lens. For example, Graham Gore portrays all of the chivalry one would expect based on romanticization of the Victorian era but conveniently has limited dated “quirks”. The novel walks a fine line between being realistic and well-researched, yet also comfortable and accessible to read.

On a surface level right from the get-go, I fell in love with this book and its style. Chock full of English mannerisms, slang, and pop culture references all delivered with a dry tongue-in-cheek humor, I found The Ministry of Time to be hilarious when it chose to be. The humor and comedic elements were incredibly tasteful and sophisticated that go beyond slapstick boisterous overreactions that feel like a common fallback strategy.

“You can send dioramas through the ether (TV), and you’ve used it to show people at their most wretched (EastEnders)… Any child or unmarried woman of virtue might engage the machine and be faced with lurid examples of criminal behavior (Midsomer Murders)… Or deformed monstrosities against the will of God- (Seasme Street)”.

Even mundane activities such as cooking dinner or going shopping are interesting to read and lot of that has to do with the strong character work in The Ministry of Time. Both Graham Gore and the FMC (who I can’t remember the name of at the moment since the book is written in a first-person perspective) have great chemistry and are instantly likable. Gore is obviously charming (other reviews exclaiming how down bad they were for this man who disappeared almost 200 yrs ago had me rolling, and I concur) but is well-rounded and flawed. His dialogue is incredibly clever in that it doesn’t go overboard on the Victorian mannerisms but is distinguished just enough to feel like he’s from another world. The other cast of expats (two from the 17th century and another from the early 20th century) provide a wide variety of personalities and better yet, mannerisms and culture beliefs that are believably based on their original eras. Views on courtship and marriage, women’s role in society/the workplace, racism, oppression of the queer community (or lack of back then, there are at least two characters that are clearly queer), first world mentality; these are all areas that are thoughtfully explored and varied. I absolutely hate books that have historical fiction elements that either ignore or poorly research the culture and mannerism of the eras they’re portraying; The Ministry of Time felt like a breath of fresh, quality air. That being said, it does help if you read this novel via an ebook edition or have a dictionary on-hand as there are some dated obscure phrases and word-choices used that added a bit of authenticity to the dialogue (nice to also to flex the mental English chops).

Beyond the characters, Bradley’s writing style is beautiful. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the writing style is flowery or particularly visual, but it screams quality and finesse. Phrases are thoughtfully constructed, and the style can best be described as being casually smart and reflective. When she’s not actively portraying characters from the Victorian era or 17th century, Bradley’s writing is varied both in phrasing and in word choice. There are complex words that I have not seen in contemporary novels in some time (many of them skewing, again, towards English phrasings) that I enjoyed. The FMC’s introspective thoughts and descriptions of what she experiences around her are also constantly changing, never falling into the horrible “I did this, I did that, then I saw this” writing hole.

The one element I don’t see quite as many reviews or even the synopsis highlighting is the theme of ethnic differences. The extended metaphor between time-traveling expats and their bridges tasked to assimilate them into society is an overt reference to many immigrants and their families attempting to assimilate or find themselves surrounded by a foreign country and people. The concept of government “bridges”, or effectively handlers tasked with observing and guiding these people pulled through time and space, is an intriguing concept particularly when it’s applied to real-world migrants. At first I was concerned that the novel would portray this bridge concept as a quick fix to many of the immigrant and racial discrimination issues prevalent today, however my worries were thankfully unjustified. Despite doing what she believes to be best, the FMC if revealed to have failed Graham at times or has even unintentionally pushed her own unrealized preconceptions of who he is and what would be best for him to keep him safe. Even the Ministry’s own handling of the system is shown to be heavily flawed (or worse, motivated for their own interests). If anything, the takeaway message is that any systematic approach to such a nuanced and personal area will never realistically work however well-researched and planned on paper it is.

The FMC’s ethnic background of being half English white and half Cambodian from her mother’s escape from Cambodia is also heavily discussed. However, it’s the manner in which Bradley discusses these topics to which I found the most refreshing and impressive. The Ministry of Time portrays different opinions or thoughts on minority suppression via different plot mechanics or characters. The FMC uses her externally ambiguous look to her benefit (just enough to look White but still distinctively different) but grapples with the uncertainty of where she belongs or who she is, consisting of two seemingly dueling cultures. She also carries a great deal of baggage and conscientiousness knowing the pain her mother experienced while she herself lives a rather comfortable and privileged life. Her coworker and fellow bridge Simellia who has African roots (and clearly does not pass as white) takes the route more commonly seen with the younger generations calling out how she’s one of the few government workers who are of color, is working against the system and pushes her outlook of society’s future forward (in general much of her perspectives seem to capture and emulate the passionate and politically-outspoken younger millennial/gen z idealism). Meanwhile FMC’s sister is journalist/researcher(?) who publishes papers meant to bring the Cambodian immigrant experience, plight, and oppression to the forefront of society much to the uncomfortableness of her sister who feels her family is getting dragged into the spotlight unflatteringly. The Ministry of Time never makes an overt statement supporting or discouraging any of these different views, but instead ponders about each and inspires the reader to consider how someone of a different perspective may experiences the same world.

I feel obligated to mention the elephant in the room which is the accusation that BBC is blatantly plagiarising a Spanish drama of the same name with its announced adaptation of this novel. The related news and gut-reaction backlash resulted in this book being reviewed bombed before it was even released (this book should at least be a 4.0-4.25 or higher on goodreads or elsewhere), not to mention some outlandish claims against Bradley being a seemingly unpublished scapegoat to blame. Despite having the same name, the two stories have very little in common apart from both having some sort of regulatory/government agency involved in the time-travel continuum (a plot device and theme that is very commonly utilized). Bradley’s The Ministry of Time is almost entirely a character-driven narrative that mostly focuses on the expats who were pulled into the 21st century (similar to immigration) and has very little to do with a time-space continuum or future. There’s a bit of this used at the very end of the novel, however that is to be expected based on the premise of a time-traveling door/device. I frankly think that Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy or NBC’s Timeless treads heavier into the Spanish drama’s territory than this novel does. Apart from that one similarity, the accusations feel entirely unjustified if you actually take the time to read this novel first. I for one am eagerly looking forward to this adaptation, there are so many qualities that make this story a prime choice for a miniseries.

Needless to say, I loved the Ministry of Time. The creative concept, plotting, fusion of different genres, and the exceptional quality of the writing made the pages fly by for me. I knew going into it that the genre and plot would be something I would like but I did not expect the thoughtful discussion around different ethnic cultures to be so prevalent, and more importantly, seamlessly integrated. I often find that when other novels attempt this discussion, it comes off as overly negative, angry, condescending, or worse, off-putting if the reader does not share the same views or cultural background. The Ministry of Time facilitates the topic effortlessly and its transitions between genres makes the entire reading experience very comfy and easy to pick-up. I realize that this novel had a lot of elements that specifically catered to my taste, but there’s a lot to like and it’s an easy recommendation even for readers who do not like the science fiction genre (Graham Gore is probably charming enough to carry the book even if you don’t like the plot, just google his portrait). This story is all about the journey one goes on and the plot is extra bonus points to an already great reading experience.